The Birthmark

“That is a beautiful shirt, I think the color will look marvelous on you.”

I looked up from the green shirt I was holding to the sales woman. My eyes took in her blonde hair, which was pulled into a severe bun, her kind brown eyes, and her dark blue dress suit.

Her name tag read ‘Cindy’.

“Would you like me to unlock a fitting room for you?” Cindy asked, her voice a melody of sound.

I shook my head and put the shirt back on the rack, “No, thank you. I’m just looking around.”

I turned and walked to another display, this time lifting a thick black sweater. I ran my fingers over the soft fabric, absently admiring the strong stitching when I noticed movement from behind me.

Acting quickly, I turned and lifted the sweater up, the two sleeves grasped tightly in my hands. Stepping forward I cover the knife that Cindy was holding with the sweater, making sure to wrap the sleeves around her upper arm. Swinging around, I twist Cindy’s arm behind her back, the knife still trapped safely within the thick sweater. Shoving Cindy forward I press her roughly against the display. I grabbed her free arm and twisted it with the other, making sure the sleeves of the sweater were tied tightly around each of her arms.

She struggled against me, turning her head to the side to glare at me, “How did you know who I was?”

I shrugged, “The hem of your sleeve shifted and I saw the water drop tattoo on your wrist.”

She smiled, “Did you like the light blue color I added? I was so tired of the plain black ink and thought it needed some color.”

“Very nice, now where’s Antonio?”

Her smile widened, “You really think I’m going to tell you that? You won’t get me to tell you anything.”

I nodded, “Probably not.”

Holding her tied wrists with one hand I reached back and pull the hand gun from the behind of my jeans.

I pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of her neck, “Goodbye, Cindy. I hope Antonio’s theories were worth your life.”

“The Hunters sacrifice for the good of all. My death will allow another to take my place in making our world safe from-”

I pulled the trigger before she could finish; tired of hearing the same story from every Hunter I come across. Blood splattered across the clothes and display as her head sank forward.

I stepped back, careful not to step into any blood puddles, and casually walked out of the boutique. Once on the sidewalk I blended in with a group of people, moving with them as they traveled to wherever they needed to go. It wasn’t until I was about three blocks away from the boutique that someone latched onto my arm and pulled me into a dark alley.

I was shoved against the side of a wall, my arms locked down at my sides as a large body trapped me.

“Are you insane?”

At the angry voice I rolled my eyes, allowing my body to relax, “I was hoping to blend in enough to lose you.”

“You killed a woman in broad daylight in a public place that had cameras,” Garren gritted through his teeth, his mouth against my ear.

I shrugged and leaned my head back against the building, “I fried all the cameras in the store before she approached me and there was no one near the corner we were at. By the way, she was the one who tried to knife me from behind, I was only defending myself.”

“Which you wouldn’t have had to do if you had stayed home like I told you to!”

His growl made me cringe, “Well, I wouldn’t have left if you’d just stay with me. I go where you go, remember?”

“No!” Garren pushed away from me, turning to pace the alley, “No, you don’t go where I go. You go where I tell you to go. You do what I tell you to do. If I tell you to sit in the car, you sit in the car. If I tell you to drink a glass of milk, you drink a fucking glass of milk!”

He turned to glare at me, “How hard is that to understand, Jalen?”

I sighed, “Apparently as hard as it is for you to understand that I’m not letting you go out and put yourself in harm’s way while I sit at home and twiddle my thumbs.”

Garren’s hands clenched into fists, “My job is to protect you. I am the Protector, not you.”

I glared back at him, “And I am not a bird that can be caged. You can’t just put me in a warm, safe corner and only take me out when you’re bored.”

Garren scoffed, his blue eyes flashing with anger, “I can honestly say that with the danger surrounding you, I’ve never once been bored.”

I sagged against the building, his words more painful than I thought they would be, but I still didn’t show Garren how I felt, “Fine, whatever. Take me home if it’ll make you feel better.”

Garren sighed, “You’ll just sneak out again.”

“Only if you leave.”

“You know I’ll have to leave, Jalen. I have to make sure you’re safe.”

“Yeah?” My eyes flashed from a deep red to a flame orange, “Who’ll protect me if something happens to you? Are there spare Protectors I don't know about?”

“No, there aren’t any spares.”

I raised a brow, “Then you agree with me? We’ll both sit at home, eat ice cream, and watch The Ugly Truth.”

“Again? Seriously? We watched that movie yesterday.”

I smiled, “And I distinctly remember you laughing along at Gerard Butler’s jokes.”

Garren returned my smile, “What can I say, the guy gets me.”

“So we can go home?”

“Sure, once you’ve settled down with your ice cream and movie I’ll head back out again.”

“Garren,” I imitated his deep growl, but instead of intimidating him he just laughed.

“Come on, maybe by the time we get home you’ll have me convinced I have to stay.”

“Yeah, for some reason I doubt that. I’ve never been able to convince you of anything.”

Garren shrugged and tugged me from the alley, “Practice makes perfect, right?”

“I don’t know, maybe you should help me learn to fight and I’ll tell you if my practicing makes me perfect or not.”

Garren laughed as we joined others on the sidewalk, heading back to our apartment, “I don’t think so, though you’re attempts at convincing me are getting better.”

“Well, if you actually taught me a few things instead of forcing me to learn them from movies I would have handled Cindy a little better.”

Garren turned to look at me, “Cindy? Who’s Cindy?”

“The lady I killed back at the boutique.”

Garren groaned, “You know her name? You know better than to learn their names, Jalen.”

“No, I don’t, you won’t teach me.”

“Fine, here’s your first and only lesson. Never learn your enemy’s name. Names give them personalities, makes them seem more human.”

“I know Antonio’s name and I don’t think of him as human.”

Garren shrugged, “That’s because you know he’s the one calling all the shots. Cindy was just a pawn. She probably had a husband, couple of kids. Maybe she was forced to become a Hunter.”

“Don’t tell me that! I was doing just fine with killing her before you said all that.”

“See? Now you feel for her all because you knew her name.”

“No, I feel for her because you told me she was forced to become a Hunter to save her family.”

“And I wouldn’t have had to inform you of that if you hadn’t told me her name.”

I could hear the amusement in his voice, see the smile on his face, as we stopped at a light, “You find this funny, don’t you?”

“Only slightly.”

“You, Garren, disgust me.”

“Disgust you enough to stay home while I’m out protecting?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I’ll just have to try harder at disgusting you.”

Rolling my eyes I walked away from him when it was safe to cross the road, leaving him laughing behind me.

“Come on, Jalen, just give me another chance! I promise I can do better at disgusting you!”